November 24, 2008 | New Products | by Stuart McPhee |
Full-time writer, part-time maker of dioramas, New Yorker Sloane Crosley has released a collection of her witty essays entitled I Was Told There’d Be Cake. Recounting tales of plastic pony collections, wanting to raise her unborn kids in Belgium, and locking herself out of her apartment twice in one day, Crosley’s stories will make you think of Larry David if he was a cute thirty year-old woman. No wonder HBO snapped up the rights to the book.
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September 11, 2008 | Video | 
by Stuart McPhee |
Teddy Thompson’s fourth album is the reason why I have been ignoring this year’s other new releases. A Piece Of What You Need is teeming with sophisticated pop tunes, such as the first single In My Arms, a song that’s so memorable I may need to go into therapy if it isn’t out of my head by year’s end.
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May 8, 2008 | New Music | by Stuart McPhee |
Until recently Trent Reznor has been the Terrence Malick of music. Now he is releasing albums like it is nobody’s business. And free ones at that. Read more
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May 2, 2008 | Video | by Stuart McPhee |
A dedicated music teacher leads 70 enthusiastic Year 5 public school kids from New York City in the hope of promoting what is great about the Arts in the education system. Read more
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April 18, 2008 | New Products | by Stuart McPhee |
You want blunt self assessment? Try this from the lead singer, Mark Seymour’s tome about life in the Australian rock juggernaut, Hunters and Collectors: ‘it’s a hard sell. It’s about a rock band with no image’. Read more
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April 11, 2008 | New Music | by Stuart McPhee |
Every artist has a selling point, from Pete Doherty (smackhead) to 50 Cent (bullet-proof) and even Train (blandness). What separates them from the William Hung’s of this world is that their shtick does not outweigh their abilities as artists. Read more
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March 5, 2008 | New Music | by Stuart McPhee |
Despite their volatile history, 90s alt-country upstarts Whiskeytown somehow managed to get it together when they were in the studio. Now released in an expanded version, their sophomore album is a lasting testament to the talents of the band’s stalwarts Ryan Adams (then 22) and Caitlin Cary. Memorable tracks like 16 Days and Yesterday’s News are joined by a goldmine of session demos that include covers of Fleetwood Mac and Johnny Cash tunes. One protracted album later, Whiskeytown were no more, but Stranger’s Almanac would stand as a defining album from the No Depression era. [watch Whiskeytown live in concert]
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February 23, 2008 | Video | by Stuart McPhee |
Having called it a day back in 2001 and with no back catalogue available anymore, this fine underrated Aussie band is very quickly being forgotten about and it is high time something is done to fix that. How can we live in a world that can stock Peter Andre albums and nothing from Skunkhour?
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February 19, 2008 | New Art | by Stuart McPhee |
Like most people, I first locked eyes on Sanna Annukka’s beautiful designs when British band Keane commissioned her to create the artwork for their second album ‘Under The Iron Sea’. Her silkscreen creations are a cool blend of her Finnish heritage (most notably, the epic poem The Kalevala), as well as the art of the Far East. [read about the behind the scene stories of your favourite album covers]
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February 12, 2008 | Video | by Stuart McPhee |
Likely lad Dave Gorman is never short of a wacky idea. From seeking out 54 other namesakes to traipsing around the globe guided by a unique internet search, Gorman gives a good anecdote. His latest project — America Unchained — is no less peculiar. But this time he may have hit the sweet spot. His attempt to go coast to coast in the U.S. without giving money to the Man has been captured on film and has already won the audience award for best Documentary at the Austin Film Festival. The DVD is out in the UK, with the book to follow internationally in April. [watch also the Construction of the American Dream]
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February 6, 2008 | New Music | by Stuart McPhee |
There are plenty of legendary albums, but few stunning live releases. Sam Cooke’s blistering set recorded in a sweaty Miami Club (pre-dating Live At The Apollo by ten months) could well be the best ever. Mr Soul gives his all through a gig that includes Chain Gang, party rave-up Twisting The Night Away, and the definitive version of Bring It On Home To Me. Read more
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January 4, 2008 | New Products | by Stuart McPhee |
If I had waited until I actually finished reading the debut effort from this exciting Australian novelist, I would have well and truly have missed the bandwagon. At over 700 pages long, you will just have to take my word that the decades spanning journey of the Dean family is one of wit and wonder. Read more
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My wife and I have a little black puppy, a furry bundle of mischief called Selma Lou. Perhaps one day we’ll have her immortalized in an artwork by Anders Malmø. The Norwegian artist has a thing for mutts. And it’s very fun thing indeed. Read more
My friend Lenka Kripac, formerly of Aussie group Decoder Ring, now flying solo, has just released her debut single — The Show — and it’s as catchy a slice of pop hedonism as you’re ever going to hear. Be warned: one listen and you may never shake the melody.
Oh wow. The illustration work of Brooklyn based James Blagden is amazing. The colours leap out like flouro socks in a mid-80s Wham clip. Read more
Yes it may be cliched to acknowledge it, but having lived for some time now down the barrel of the loaded gun that is New York, it really is difficult to be cynical — as the folk laureate Rufus Wainwright is — about this city. Read more
Back in the day, New Zealand pop absurdists, Split Enz were the finest damn Australasian band around. This track, I Walk Away, off their final album — Spellbound — is their ultimate moment: a hefty dose of pure melodic majestry, wrapped around the aching lyrics and quirky arrangements of genius frontman, Neil Finn.
With the recent financial qualms, a moment of reflection takes over as we begin to wonder how we all became so out of touch with reality. Somehow Luxury lost its way and mistook itself for decadence, joining the Bling-Bling parade and gravitating towards the streets of self-indulgence. Yet, the true essence of Luxury, as the divine Coco Chanel states ‘is not in the richness and ornateness, but in the absence of vulgarity’. Bravo, I say! Read more
Going about day-to-day life can be a chore, which is why the guys at Anxiety Culture are delivering highly valid excuses for why people should feel free to do exactly as they please, which, in most cases, is absolutely nothing. Read more
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Wheeeeee! This game is so freaking fun! You move your cursor over each dot to make them split into four smaller dots ad infinitum.
Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more
Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Almanac Market in Philadelphia is slightly pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. Offering fantastic bread, cheeses, produce, and cured meats such as sopressata and pepperoni, it was a great pit stop when my band played in town, and definitely more economical and tasty than hitting a greasy spoon for road snacks.
Check out Mike Stimpson’s Lego reinterpretations of classic photographs. Stimpson’s version of Malcolm Browne’s iconic 1963 photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc is particularly twisted. Read more
Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more
For visual people who rely on shapes and imagination, this eye test t-shirt by Hong Kong-based studio, WEME, is a perfect conversation starter. It’s available through the Lost At E Minor online store for just US$30. Read more
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